So I've noticed a lot of people say that the best thing to start out with is meditation, because its a key building block on enhancing your magical abilities...is this correct? and can anyone leave me some info on what I should do(IE: visualize things) or give an idea of how to go about it, such as best time or place?

Also, is there any basic, easier spells any of you recommend for a beginner to start stretching their magic muscles, per-say?

Meditation is also a great tool for understanding yourself and the world around you, which becomes crucial to further magical exploration.

Examine the way you think, the way you feel, why you think, why you feel. Do not shy away or offer excuses. Simply allow realization to occur.

When you feel you have a working understanding of these aspects, turn your "gaze" outward. Understand within, then without.

This is also a great way to develop in general terms, by aiding in helping you find those areas where you'd like to grow.

From here, I do find that "basic" energy concepts are a good place to explore. You can do this within meditation as well. Sit or lay down in a manner that is comfortable to you but won't put you to sleep and allow yourself to relax. Focus on your breathing, and feel the flow of energy with every breath, in and out. Feel it coursing through you, around you. Allow it to create an image in your mind. Take note of how it feels on your skin, how it feels within you, how it feels against your palms and feet. How does it respond to your will? To your visualization? Examine every facet of it you care to. And then return to your calm, allowing the energy to disperse from where it came.

I did a nice trick with visualizing that helped me focus my mind more when i first started. Take a small object like a penny and look at it then close your eyes and relax. Clear your mind and try to visualize the penny/object you just looked at, visualize all sides and spots of it. Keep doing this until you can fully visualize the object without needing to look at it over and over.

Also try to block out other images that pop into your head while visualizing the penny. It's a well known easy little technique but it helped me a lot with my focusing and visualization.

DarkSun has it about right. Meditation is not so much "emptying" your Mind, more like concentrating on one thought or object;pushing all other thoughts (gently!) from your Mind. This is when you start to "visualise" what effect you are wanting your spell to have.This,with grounding (harnessing the energy of the Earth with your own) is how the spell works; but there will be many failures with a few successes! Keep trying!

Meditation is about thought flow. As you meditate you allow your thoughts to come into the front of your mind , you acknowledge the thought, and then you let the thought go. When another one comes in you repeat the process. This is how you "clear your mind".

Though letting a thought go is no easy at all. Seeing as when you think to let one go..you're thinking of one which is creating another thought. It takes a while to get used to dont rush just practice (:

Even the basics take time and effort to get through.. anyone who tells you they don't... never tried XD